Carlos Caso-Rosendi
If I understand it correctly, the Traditional Mass is the Christian reality prefigured by the Daily Bread Offering of the Mosaic Law: the Todah or bread of thanksgiving. Scott Hahn has a very good book written about this where one can find lots of great information: The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth. Here I quote from the presentation of that book in the internet:
Of all things Catholic, there is nothing that is so familiar as the Mass. With its unchanging prayers, the Mass fits Catholics like their favorite clothes. Yet most Catholics sitting in the pews on Sundays fail to see the powerful supernatural drama that enfolds them. Pope John Paul II described the Mass as “Heaven on Earth,” explaining that what “we celebrate on Earth is a mysterious participation in the heavenly liturgy.”
The offering of bread and wine goes back at least to Abraham and Melchizedek, the king-priest of Salem. The story that leads to the introduction of Melchizedek is very similar to the story of David’s loss and recovery of Ziklag. (1 Samuel 30)
Abraham is informed that his nephew Lot and all his considerable belongings were lost after an enemy raid on Sodom, where Lot happened to be residing. (Genesis 14:1-13) Abraham and his men pursue the enemies of Lot and recover everyone and everything after a decisive battle that also resulted in the liberation of various peoples who had been vanquished by Chedorlaomer, the leader of the enemy forces defeated by Abraham.
Melchizedek offers bread and wine
After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him one-tenth of everything. (Genesis 14: 17-22)
The practice of offering bread and wine after a great act of liberation by God appears again when the descendants of Abraham through Jacob leave Egypt after the Egyptian Pharaoh decided to exterminate the Israelites by killing their offspring. (See Exodus 1) Before liberating the Israelites from the Egyptian yoke, God institutes the Feast of the Unleavened Bread that will later become the Jewish Passover. (See Exodus 12: 14-20) That is the todah sacrifice.
A todah sacrifice would be offered by someone whose life had been delivered from great peril, such as disease or the sword. The redeemed person would show his gratitude to God by gathering his closest friends and family for a todah sacrificial meal. The lamb would be sacrificed in the Temple and the bread for the meal would be consecrated the moment the lamb was sacrificed. The bread and meat, along with wine, would constitute the elements of the sacred todah meal, which would be accompanied by prayers and songs of thanksgiving, such as Psalm 116. (Tim Gray, From Jewish Passover to Christian Eucharist: The Story of the Todah)
Bread appears again when Jesus recalls how David ate the Bread of the Presence when running away from murderous King Saul.
One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the Bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:23-28)
Liberation is always associated with the sacrifice of unleavened bread. I believe God is building something through history to lead us to the Eucharist. In fact Todah and Eucharistia mean exactly the same thing: thanksgiving.
Etymology of the English word “lord”
In Anglo-Saxon times, the lord was known as the hläford, from the Viking hläfweard, meaning a bread-keeper or ‘bread ward’. The lord was responsible for providing bread for his household; therefore he was head of the house. (Oxford Dictionary quoted online by Susan Pierotti for Editors VIC.)
So, a lord is a keeper of the loaves of bread. Interesting coincidence!
By now you know that the “bread of the presence” of the Hebrew liturgy is a shadow or type of the Christian Eucharist, which the Catholic Church professes to be the presence of Christ among us: his Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity offered to effect our liberation from sin and death.
Todah and Eucharist point at Christ
The type we are contemplating in the Old Testament is a complex type. It presents us not only with God’s great liberating acts through history but with his constant work to liberate mankind even at the personal level. Todah-Eucharist is a constant feature meant to point at Christ, first as the expected Jewish Messiah and later as the Great Liberator of mankind.
“In the coming Messianic age all sacrifices will cease, but the thanksgiving oblation [todah] will never cease.” Hartmut Gese, Essays On Biblical Theology (Minneapolis; Augsburg Publishing House, 1981), p. 133.
This traditional Jewish commentary (the Pesikta) cannot be confused with being pro-Christian but nevertheless, its intuition proves to be perfectly coherent with the Catholic view of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is a continuation of the Todah, even after all other forms of sacrifice required by God in the Old Testament are eliminated, the Todah subsists in the Christian Eucharist and the Jewish Passover celebration.
Before Christ, we have the Todah. After the Last Supper, we have the Eucharist which is Christ’s body, the ultimate oblation.
See it as a string of bread and wine sacrifices that starts with Melchizedek at the edge of the Bronze Age and continues until Christ’s death in Calvary.
Then imagine the Cross, right at the center of history and the Eucharist being celebrated to this day. Christ is in the center, with both kinds of thanksgiving oblation pointing at Him on the Cross and the resulting liberation of mankind.
And when he is sitting on the mount of the Olives, the disciples came near to him by himself, saying, ‘Tell us, when shall these be? and what is the sign of thy presence, and of the full end of the age?’ (Matthew 24:3 Young’s Literal Translation)
“The sign of thy presence” is a sign that will alert the Church to the End Times. In Greek: σημεῖον σῆς παρουσίας, pron. sēmeion sēs parousías. In Daniel 12, the prophet seems to be pointing at an interruption of the constant oblation. Such interruption is important because it triggers the very end of the end times.
I heard but could not understand; so I said, ‘My lord, how shall it be that these things will come to pass?’ He said, ‘Go your way, Daniel, for the words are to remain secret and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall be purified, cleansed, and refined, but the wicked shall continue to act wickedly. None of the wicked shall understand, but those who are perspicacious shall understand. From the time that the constant oblation is taken away and the desolating abomination is set up, there shall be 1290 days. Happy are those who persevere and attain the 1335 days. But you, go your way, and rest; you shall rise for your reward at the end of the days.’ (Daniel 12:8-13. The author’s translation)
Here is when we have to examine the recent history of the Mass and of the men who dared to refuse to celebrate the Novus Ordo Mass so that the constant oblation lasting two millennia would not be interrupted. We will do that in depth in the next post. In the meanwhile we can quickly summarize the present situation.
In our days the Modernist revolutionaries have manage to infiltrate and sway important parts of the Church towards their abominable ideals. If they are successful in stopping the celebration of the Traditional Mass worldwide and –if the Traditional Mass is the constant oblation that the prophet Daniel was talking about– then the author of that interruption is soon to appear in the world. That would presumably be the Antichrist.
What will happen at that time, when the Body of Christ is banished and disappears from Christian life? The first obvious thing will be the installation of an operation of disobedience. The Church exists to offer the Eucharist, the sign of Christ’s presence, and of Christ’s Resurrection. The commandment we received the night of His Passion could not be more clear: “Continue to do this in memory of Me.” (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24)
Emmaus in reverse
At the inn by the road to Emmaus, Christ gives thanks, the disciples recognize him and only then Christ disappears while the Consecrated Bread remains. The message, the image are indisputably Eucharistic.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. (Luke 24:30-31)
When the Consecrated Bread disappears from the altars of the Church, it is reasonable to expect that the opposite will happen: Jesus will make His appearance (parousía) and His presence will be evident to all. The wicked generation will finally see the sign they were asking for, the promised “sign of Jonah” … the undeniable proof of His Resurrection and Lordship over Death. Every disciple will recognize Him as Lord, thus closing the circle. I believe we are quite close to that moment but only God knows the exact time.
Quod scripsi, scripsi 
I just found this article that clearly explains the problem in the context of the current events.
http://forge-and-anvil.com/2020/04/10/the-continual-sacrifice-was-taken-away/
LikeLike
Carlos,
It is not rubbing the readers the wrong way! We have to consider where we are in the history of the Church.
I do not think this is something that has happened a lot since the beginning of the Church 2000 years ago to do not have access to Mass.
The link you suggest is also interesting. Many things are accurate in the article. However, I share the opinion of Mr James Delinis:
“…we are not at the beginning of the great apostasy, but nearing the end. We are nearing the return of Jesus Christ, the judgement of the world and everyone in it, the regeneration of creation and the destruction of evil for all time.
This is not going to happen hundreds of years from now, it is happening now. Let anyone with eyes see.”
https://www.thecampofsaints.com/2020/05/yes-st-malachy-propechies-are-real-and.html#more
Very strange times indeed
Keeping my Rosary on hand!
God Bless!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is exactly what is happening, Michel!
LikeLike
The True Church is of Christ and for Christ. No group of men however cunning, can make the Church work for any other purpose than to bring Christ to the world. If the Church is eclipsed or hijacked the world plunges into deep darkness. The Church is the true light of the world.
LikeLike
Wonderful, Carlos, and so explanatory of what we seem to be seeing unfold before our eyes. The words of Don Maclaine have recently come to mind: “Fire is the Devil’s only friend.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Castelletto. I am praying for your intentions as this awful time develops. Looks quite possible that the next thing they will throw at the US is war. I pray that will not happen but it may very well be that those things are already decided long ago. This is the fruit of abortion, sexual revolution, contraception, forbidding Christian prayer in public etc. etc. etc. My heart goes to my American friends. Here we’re not doing much better but we can say that at least the pandemic has stopped the push for legalizing abortion. Again, thank you for commenting. I was beginning to worry this was rubbing the readers the wrong way! 🙂
LikeLike
“When the Consecrated Bread disappears from the altars of the Church…”
About all the locking down, there is a very good article in french by Mr Marc Chevrier analyzing the profound philosophical meaning of that:
http://encyclopedie.homovivens.org/documents/le_leviathan_sanitaire
So, Carlos, if you want to practice your French, you can read it.
Keeping my Rosary on hand!
God Bless!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good article. Thank you, Michel.
And it is very good French, although I had to look a few words up. 🙂 the last paragraph is a good summation of the article.
“Summing up, the Leviathan insurance aims no longer the peace of the soul, but the comfort of the ego, whether it involves going through the stages of existence or assuming one’s identity, social, ethnic or sexual, as opposed that of others. In a way, it protects us from the very otherness of life or of others, by incessantly lowering in the individual the threshold of tolerance for the unexpected, danger, misfortune, suffering and to imperfection. If the will is postulated as sovereign in the hyper-insured individual, their moral resources, their inner shortcomings and their capacity for recovery are deemed, for their part, to require palliative assistance provided by the various therapists of the health and social care system. In this sense, the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, far from marking an exception in the tasks of the sanitary Leviathan, renewed it in its functions of great organizer of ego comfort. And even,it confirms it in its essential role, serving as a general solution to the fear of living. This is also why optimism, rather than hope, is strictly required in contemporary societies. Indeed, they place their faith in the successes of the therapeutic sciences and in the ethics of individual law that reconciles a Leviathan with a reassuring face who whispers in the ears of his beneficiaries:I’m going to be fine.”
LikeLike
LikeLike
The Vatican 2 Council was a the final assault. It was not ‘hijacked’ by the Modernists. It was planned by them as a way to complete the infiltration. The code word was “Ecumenical” where “Ecumenism” is the fruit of the rotten tree. The battle began long ago and it is raging now. It is with great joy that I report that somehow, the scales fell from my eyes. I always thought of Vatican 2 as a Council of the Church that was misappropriated by the Modernists and used to create this mess. No. I was wrong. The council was the first council of the anti-church, the infidel church, the false copy of the true Church. The most important part of the curia was already taken by the Mods by 1960. The very silence of John XXIII about the envelope containing the Third Secret is a confirmation of my hypothesis. Now I see it as a fact: the council was called by a traitor to coordinate the final assault. The code word was “ecumenical” which in their lingo means “pandemonium” …
I must confess I feel foolish but now my whole experience in the Church for the last 20 years confirms that I was someone sincerely trying to practice the Catholic faith among the confused ignorati and the malicious traitors. We’ve been in this awful prison for a long time, many of us for a lifetime. But I do not dwell on the negative side. It is easy to feel indignant but it is also a trap. God is leading us, wandering in the desert while they’ll die in the desert, we will live to cross the river into the Promised Land. I thank the God of Heaven for opening my eyes right at this moment. I thank God for those two or three insights that showed me what is really going on.
I am trying to think how am I going to tell my readers, this is a touchy subject that may cost me the few that still make a small contribution here and there but I must trust that God will provide them with the needed understanding and somehow provide for my penurious needs. I have found a treasure!
LikeLike
About Mgr Vigano, Carlos, have you heard about his letter to president Trump?
A man like Mgr Vigano makes me proud to be Catholic.
God Bless!
Keeping my Rosary on hand!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Michel:
It was Msgr. Viganò who wrote recently about how the 2 Vatican Council was to blame for the terrible corruption in the Church. Somehow this old brain of mine was shown the way to do the math (so to speak) and when I read an article in Camp of the Saints regarding the opening of the envelope containing the Third Secret in 1960 … the scales fell off my eyes. That was the subtle way Our Lady communicated to all of us that by 1960 an important part of the Vatican Curia was no longer on her side. The next thing that came to my mind –and I don’t claim divine inspiration but I have to admit I am not that clever to figure this on my own– was an anecdote I heard long ago. Pope John XXIII — Giuseppe (Italian form of Joseph) Roncalli — invited into the Vatican a delegation of all the Jewish religious leaders in Italy. The rabbis were expecting the Pope to appear in full regalia but instead, a robust priest in ‘clergyman’ attire came in. They did not recognize who he was until he said: “Non mi riconosci? Sono Giuseppe, tuo fratello!” borrowing the phrase from Genesis 45:1-4: “Don’t you recognize me? I am Joseph your brother!” That anecdote now gives me the creeps! A “brother” (in the Masonic sense?) of the Jews was sitting on Peter’s throne. The shedding of the papal white cassock for that occasion was a clue to things to come in our days. 1960-2030 may be the 70 years of exile for the Catholic Church.
LikeLike
Even more in The Remnant Newspaper…
Introduction by Michael J. Matt: Over the past half century of crisis in the Catholic Church, one of the main points of division among Tradition-minded Catholics centered around the question of whether there was something inherently contrary to Tradition about the Second Vatican Council itself, or was it merely the Modernist interpretations of the Council that flowed abundantly into the lifeblood of the Church after the close of the Council in 1965.
Over the past few decades, many conservative commentators were ready to admit that the so-called “Spirit of the Council” had led to much devastation in the Church. But they parted company with those of us who felt obliged in conscience to point out that at least some of the sixteen documents themselves were inherently at odds with the constant magisterial teaching of the Church.
In essence, this has been at the heart of the debate for over fifty years. It divided my own family, in fact, and eventually left my father with no choice but to leave The Wanderer and found The Remnant in 1967. In his mind, it was not merely a question of abuse—either of doctrine or liturgy—but rather that Vatican II represented a fundamental and orchestrated reorientation of the Church in the spirit of the modern world.
For many good Catholics (who knew something had gone terribly wrong), it seemed the more prudent course of action to hope and pray that faulty interpretations of the Council would eventually work themselves into a hermeneutic of continuity with Tradition and all would end well. For fifty years, this kept them largely silent in the face of radical novelty never before seen in the history of the Church.
Read the whole article here:
https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/4929-vigano-on-revolution-in-the-church-from-vatican-ii-onwards-a-parallel-church-was-built
LikeLike
LikeLiked by 1 person